I have noticed the surge about Colin Kaepernick being the Nike representative and I understand people’s concerns about him taking a knee to not salute the flag and personally it is wrong for him to do that because he is disrespecting our armed forces who sacrificed their lives.

Many Camp Verde wastewater customers were dumbfounded when the May 2018 sewer bills arrived. An increase had been rumored but why, we asked, had our rates jumped so high? As the dust settles, there are more questions than answers.

I am increasingly saddened and dismayed to hear and read the discussion about the consolidation of our school system. To me, the crux of the argument is about the disparity in the salary structure between the high school and elementary schools. How unfair can this be?

In the latest round of our debate on socialism, my opponent cited several examples of successful socialist states. However, he also averred that socialism and capitalism can co-exist, ergo socialist capitalism.

Recently (August 9) The Verde Independent printed a letter about the failure of socialism. The writer presented the Soviet Union, Cuba, Venezuela, & North Korea as proof of socialism’s failure. With the exception of Venezuela, the examples of the evils and failure of socialism are communist countries. What the writer didn’t make clear is that communism is an extreme version of socialism.

It’s time for all us to ask some simple questions about the Mingus Union School Board and their approval to officially proceed with the lawsuit against the Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools. Is this to show us we must all follow the letter of the law? If so is the letter of the law followed by this board?

The United States of America is hated by numerous nations and groups. That’s certainly no surprise, and I need not delineate the myriad culprits. But our greatest enemy – and one that the mainstream media ignores – is not without, it is within. Our greatest enemy is us, or to be more precise, the “us” that teeters ever more not just Lefter and Lefter but into the dangerous miasma of socialism and its eventuation into communism and totalitarianism.

I, for one, am sick and tired of the bait ‘n’ switch that infects much of the legislation proposed in Congress. I’m also tired of how that system is used to over-characterize or/and mis-characterize the votes of our representatives in the House and Senate.